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Lost Dueling Analyses: '316'
In which Jen Chaney and I do our best to make sense of the crazy, mixed-up world that is "Lost." And don't forget to join us at 3 p.m. ET for The "Lost Hour live discussion.
Liz: Ben Linus may be coming from a place of good intentions but I think we can agree his lack of concern for the rest of the passengers on Ajira Airways Flight 316 was downright cold. I'm still shuddering from that chilling, "Who cares."
Speaking of chills, I had a few chill-worthy moments tonight. The most important came when Ms. Hawking was explaining that the island was one of several places around the world possessed of a "special energy." That rang a bell. And once you add to it the pendulum, I was bludgeoned over the head with the parallels to the book I'm currently reading, "Focault's Pendulum." I'll spare you the book report. Suffice to say that the book revolves around a 600-year plot by the Knights Templar to control something called " telluric currents" -- basically mystical energy currents that run underneath the crust of the planet. And even more interesting is that the Templars are using the pendulum to locate the navel (yes, navel) of the telluric currents -- the place from which all the others flow and that, once controlled, will give the person or persons in possession the power to control the entire world -- to conjure up tsunamis, shift continents, blot out the sun.
You get the point -- whoever wins that spot, wins the game. Hands down.
Jen: Wait, is this like the time Mr. Burns tried to block the sun from Springfield?
Liz: Not exactly.
Jen: In all seriousness, another episode absolutely brimming over with fodder for discussion.
In the first scene with Ms. Hawking alone, we learned more about the island -- definitively -- than we did in seasons one through three. She explained how Dharma used that pendulum to find the place. And she also told everyone that, as I think many viewers suspected, you can only land on the island during certain brief windows in time ( wormhole, anyone?). The notion of repeating the circumstances that landed them there in the first place is also fascinating, especially this idea that Locke is a proxy for Christian Shephard. And, in addition, Jesus.
Liz: Just to clarify, you're talking about Jesus Jesus -- not Madonna's new boyfriend, Brazilian model Jesus Luz?
Oh, and Ms. Hawking also said that the island is always moving -- I believe that was newish information, too. Definitely made sense when we consider Desmond's failed attempts to sail away from the island.
Jen: Of course I'm talking about Madonna's boyfriend. In a related story, is it me, or does Ben Linus remind anyone else of Jellybean Benitez?
Liz: I think it's just you.
Speaking of Ben ... as Jack came into his own as a man of faith, Ben seemed annoyed -- to say the least. He was dying to know what Ms. Hawking told Jack, yet when he had a chance to get in on a reading of Locke's suicide note he backed off. Just one of the curious things about Ben's storyline tonight. The other, of course, being the question about who exactly roughed him up. (More on this later.)
Jen: Let's talk about Ben and that suicide note for a second. You know, before we get biblical.
I wondered if Ben purposely got up and moved to another section of the plane, and not just to give Jack "privacy." It struck me as odd that he, Sayid, Sun and the two randoms on the flight (Sayid's marshal and the guy who felt sorry for Jack's loss) weren't with Hurley, Jack and Kate when they landed on the island. It could be a coincidence, but when it comes to Benjamin Linus, there ain't no such thing.
Liz: Agreed -- as I hinted above, doubts about Ben's intentions started creeping back into my mind pretty aggressively tonight. I'm not retracting my "Jen was right" yet, but be on alert. And I'm not the only one who doesn't trust Ben. Ms. Hawking doesn't seem to have much regard for him, either.
But wait -- where do you think the rest of the passengers ended up?
The pendulum. (Screengrab courtesy Get Lost Podcast)
Jen: I don't know where the rest of the passengers ended up. But I am a believer in the theory that perhaps everyone is on the island, but possibly some of them are in one time and some are in another.
And yes, when Ms. Hawking noted that Ben "probably" wasn't telling the truth, he looked more than a little annoyed. But Jack shouldn't even need to ask if Ben is telling the truth or not.
Liz: Jack needed something to believe in, though, and he had started to believe in Ben. Otherwise he wouldn't have let him take him that far down the path back to the island. He found something new to believe in, though: John Locke.
Jen: He started to believe Ben, but his faith was clearly shaken when he realized Ben had tried to take Aaron away.
Anyway, maybe we should talk about the whole Locke = Jesus thing.
For starters, the name of the episode is 316, which is the same as the Ajira Airways flight number. But, as Christians, biblical scholars and anyone who watches football knows, John 3:16 is an important verse from the Bible:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ( Wikipedia)
Should we assume Locke is that Son? And that Jack, who now believes in him, has gained everlasting life? There is plenty of evidence in the episode to support this. Ben's whole speech about Thomas the Apostle, aka the Doubting Thomas. Who may as well be called the Doubting Jack Shephard.
Also, the image of Jack putting his father's shoes on Locke's feet. I may have read too much into that, but it reminded me a lot of the anointing of Jesus's feet, an act committed by someone trying to atone for her sins.
Lastly, let's think about that note from Locke to Jack. It said, "I wish you had believed me." When Jack landed on the island, the only piece he had in his hand was: "I wish." Which leaves ... "you had believed me," practically taken right from the 3:16 passage.
Liz: Again I suffer for napping my way through CCD. Though I can't help but factor Aaron into this, too. Kate gave him up in this episode (even though Aaron isn't really her begotten son) -- and I can't imagine she'd do that without a good reason. Like "Oh, he's the second coming? Well who am I to stand in his way?"
Perhaps all this time the Others and the Dharmas were sitting around waiting for a man child who would be able to command the island's telluric currents. Hence their kidnapping of Walt, repeated attempts to get Aaron and general obsession with baby-making.
Jen: Aaron is certainly "special" in some way, there is no question. I think we need to know more about what happened to him and how Kate gave him up before we can reach any conclusions about what's really going on there, though. But we know from what Alpert said that the Others looked to anoint their leaders at a very young age.
Liz: Okay, so we know (sort of) what changed Kate's mind about getting on that flight. Maybe we should talk about Hurley -- who I doubt suddenly took up the guitar -- and Sayid.
Jen: Yes, many questions about them and all the circumstances surrounding the flight. But talk to me about Charlie's -- I mean Hurley's -- guitar.
Liz: I'm guessing that Hurley got another visit from Charlie -- and that it was Charlie who convinced him to get on that flight. The guitar is just another attempt to help approximate the conditions of the first trip.
What's interesting is that Ben seemed surprised about Hurley -- and when Ben is surprised, I'm surprised. If nothing else, it points out that not only are Ben and Widmore (separately) pulling strings to get these people back to the island, but there's perhaps some larger force at play pulling them back.
Which puts Ms. Hawking's "The island's not done with you yet" to Desmond in an interesting context.
Jen: Indeed. Can I start peppering you with questions that are really rhetorical now?
Liz: Why would I say no?
Jen: Was that rhetorical? Whatever, here come the Qs:
-- How did Sayid get arrested? Just so they could (again) have a marshal on the flight?
-- Who is the random guy who cares so much about Jack's well-being?
-- Why did Sun leave her child behind? What is UP with that? Does she think she's just going to spin by the island, pick up Jin and go right back home to Ji-Yeon?
-- And last question in this series: How AWESOME was it when we all realized Lapidus was the pilot?
Liz: I can actually answer that last one -- pretty awesome. And he uttered one of the best lines of the night when he realized he had the Oceanic 6 on board:
"We're not going to Guam, are we?"
Jen: His presence is actually a significant detail. If they are going back to set things "right," it makes sense that he's flying the plane. He was supposed to be the pilot of 815, and now he finally gets to man a jet to the island.
Brief sidenote about Guam. I grabbed this bit of information about the island of Guam from your friend and mine, Wikipedia:
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous inhabitants, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism beginning in 1668 with the arrival of Spanish settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. The island was taken over from Spain by the United States during the Spanish American War in 1898. As the largest island in Micronesia and the only American-held island in the region before World War II, Guam was occupied by the Japanese in December 1941, and was subject to fierce fighting when American troops recaptured the island in July 1944.
Liz: Right -- the entire South Pacific became a battleground during World War II.
Jen: It's an American territory. Which, given the Army documents Jack spotted in Hawking's underground lair, makes me wonder if THE island is, too. I mean, there is at least one U.S. bomb there. And if that's true, well, can't Obama just fix everything? I mean he's president of the island, too, you know!
Liz: Good point, Jen. Because I'm sure the U.S. Army would never have pictures of an area controlled by a foreign power.
And since we're talking about Ajira and Guam, I just need to say I'm so glad that the late night origami session of a couple of weeks back paid off in such a big way. Not. If nothing else, the origami-ball-fraught-with-meaning found a home as a favored cat toy.
Jen: OK, Ms. Sarcastic, the picture doesn't prove that it's a U.S. territory. I'm just saying, maybe there are parallels between the place and Guam.
Liz: One more point from me:
Jeff Jensen wrote a fabu (as usual) piece today about the parallels between C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles and our little show. He concentrated on "Prince Caspian" (which we read last fall), but also touched on another very important detail.
The Dharma Station Ms. Hawking found in the basement of that church contained the means for the Dharmas to locate the island -- via the use of a pendulum and some scribbled formulas on a chalkboard. We know because Ms. Hawking told us so. Take note that the station was called "The Lamppost." Which can't help but bring to mind the lamppost the Pevensie children find on the other side of the wardrobe in the Narnia books. It stands as a kind of familiar beacon pointing the way to the wormhole between two worlds.
Jen: Yes. And another pseudo-literary reference: that comic book Hurley was reading was a Spanish version of " Y: The Last Man." (Note: Thanks to producer Paul Williams for reminding us that "Y: The Last Man" was written by Brian K. Vaughan, who happens to be a writer and producer for "Lost." We tend to forget these things in the midst of late-night "Lost" debates...)
Liz: Ahhhh, nice. I've read the first couple installments about that post-apocalyptic women's only world order. And another reference -- Ben reading James Joyce's "Ulysses." Which is significant because it tells us he is a masochist.
Jen: Yeah, I am not sure if our book club can take all the pages in that thing. Although LindeCuse did warn us in one of their videos that "Ulysses" might be a book worth reading...
Liz: I am hoping that was misdirection on LindeCuse's part and plan to pick back up "Y: The Last Man."
Jen: One last thing about bruised and battered Ben, which -- to bring us full circle, back to when Liz kicked off this post and first opened her eye in the jungle -- gave me the chills.
Before Ben left Jack at the church, he said he had "made a promise to an old friend, and had a loose end to tie up." We then see him later, looking like he's had the living you-know-what kicked out of him. I got this sick feeling that the promise referred to Ben's vow that he would kill Widmore's daughter. And, since he was near a harbor when he called Jack, that he had tracked down Des and Penny's boat and tried to do her some harm. I am hoping Ben's injuries indicate that Desmond prevented him from succeeding.
Liz: You and me both, sister.
Jen: So should we hop on an Ajira Airways flight and roll out of here?
Liz: Let's do. I'll meet you here at 3 p.m. to pick up where we left off.
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Next week on "Lost": Locke's fateful mission off the island as Jeremy Bentham is revealed.
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